India
KARMA is a start-up from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bhubaneswar and is currently being incubated at the Technology Incubation Centre supported by the Government of India. With their meticulously designed solar powered products, they have been able to impact more 1,00,000 lives through multiple collaborations in Odisha, Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand and select parts of North East India
A study by the Tata Centre at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA, showed that 20 million farmers in eastern India lack year-round irrigation- only 5% of the land is used during the dry season! To overcome the environmental and sustainability limitations of agriculture dependent on rains or diesel pumps and cost concerns of solar irrigation pumps, Mobile URJA is an innovative energy service platform developed by KARMA, a start-up from the Indian Institute of Technology(IIT), Bhubaneswar, in collaboration with Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s GridEdge Solar, a research program developing next-generation solar technology for rural populations, and Flissom, an advanced solar solution provider.
The mobile URJA system allows solar panels and the mobile power units to be moved around and shared by multiple users, thus providing an opportunity to bring affordable energy services such as irrigation to marginal farmers. Mobile URJA uses solar panels made by Flissom based on copper indium gallium selenide technology. The system can be operational within 5 minutes of moving to a new site, can power up to 3 HP pumps, and will be attractive for entrepreneurs who wish to develop rental businesses. It is a radical leap from existing systems which are bulkier and fixed in place, limiting usage and increase concerns about theft.
Key Project Staff
Suraj Kumar is a PhD Scholar at IIT Bhubaneshwar, having more than six years of experience on solar powered products.
Anish K Nayak is currently pursuing Integrated B. Tech-M. Tech program at ICT Mumbai, Bhubaneswar campus, working alongside on research and development of renewable projects.
Santosh Kumar Jena is the Office Executive at KARMA, having more than five years of experience in managing projects and technical project documentation.
Pradeep Rout is a graduate from IIT Bhubaneswar, working in the sustainable product development sector from the last four years.
Bhargab Behera is the Technical Lead at KARMA, having more than ten years of technical experience.